wild tangle of curls he kept pushing back off his forehead. He looked like a really wicked angel. The fallen variety.
Yup. The man was freaking Lucifer. Great…Satan was sleeping in the room three doors down, and now she was staring.
Quit staring, you weirdo!
“Well, anyway…” she said because she had no clue what he’d said, and well, anyway seemed like it’d probably fit in any conversation. She held her hand out to Finn. “C’mon, let’s go do that finger painting.”
“Mommmm.”
“Finny.” Jane used her I’m-not-messing-around-here voice but softened it with a small smile. “We said two hours and then it was finger-painting time.”
Finn sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “Okay.” He slid off the Chesterfield, tucking Carl into his chest as he did before looking over his shoulder at Lucifer. “You want to do some finger painting with me, Cole?”
What? Jane shook her head. No. “Finn… No.” She glanced down at Cole, her gaze skimming the third beer bottle that had been added to the table, before meeting his eyes. “Cole doesn’t want to do any finger painting.”
She spoke to Finn, but her eyes remained fixed on Cole’s. He shrugged nonchalantly, but she could see the irritation lurking in his syrupy gaze. Yep, his eyes were a deep, dark brown. Maybe darker than syrup, even. Molasses, maybe. “I can finger paint.”
Jane blinked. “What?”
“Sure?” He shrugged. “Why not?”
Finn cheered as Cole stood, leaning heavily on his stick. Jane took a step back because, even with the aid of a device, Cole was overwhelmingly able-bodied. He looked like he could easily toss her over his shoulder or on his bed, which caused the kind of excitement inside her underwear that had been absent for far too long.
Yup…there was a party going on down there for sure, and all he’d done was stand up! Gah! She’d known the man for five days. Freaking hell…he really was the devil incarnate.
“If you show me where the stuff is, I can get it set up.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Jane protested.
“I know. I don’t mind. Plus, you can get some more work done on the floor.”
“Oh yes, please, Mommy.” Finn tugged on the side seam of her shorts. “Can Cole finger paint with me?”
Jane didn’t know what to say. A part of her—the mother-guilt part—wanted to dismiss Cole’s offer because she was the mom. She had to do this stuff with her son, or he’d turn into a…serial killer or something else socially undesirable down the track, right? But the other half was telling her to say yes, let Cole entertain Finn for a little longer. It seemed dumb to look a gift horse in the mouth just because she may or may not want to ride said gift horse, long and hard and bareback…
Jane shut her eyes briefly at the image. Her hormones were really taking the wheel today. When she opened her eyes, he was looking at her mouth intently, and a mad pulse flared to life between her legs.
“I really don’t mind,” he reiterated, taking his damn sweet time lifting his gaze.
Jane couldn’t deny how good it would be to keep working on the floor. She had tried to do some during the day when Finn first arrived, setting up activities in the red sitting room so he could play and she could work, but all Finn had really wanted to do was help with the removal process, and the floor was too precious to let a small boy help. There were often jobs he could help her with on projects, but not this one.
Plus, Finn was four! There were plenty of years ahead where he’d have to toil and work, and she wasn’t going to ruin his childhood by turning him into some kind of mommy’s-little-apprentice! He was supposed to be having four weeks of fun and adventure with his dad—Jane certainly wasn’t going to put him to work.
But that had made her behind.
“Well…” Her teeth pressed into her lower lip for a beat or two as she considered yet another tempting offer from Cole. His gaze followed the movement. “If you’re sure?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Okay then…thanks.”
“Yessss!” Finn jumped up and down and hugged Jane’s leg briefly before snatching Cole’s hand, saying, “The paint’s in the kitchen.”
He started a little slower because of the cane, and Jane opened her mouth to warn Finn to take it easy, but Cole just chuckled and kicked on some speed as Finn dragged him out of the room.
Jane wouldn’t have ever said